


work hard or don't

by mydearmoon



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Light Angst, POV Rio (Good Girls)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:48:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23994775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydearmoon/pseuds/mydearmoon
Summary: Four times Rio is pissed off and one time he kinda isn't.References to events up through 3x10
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 10
Kudos: 82





	work hard or don't

* * *

It pisses him off knowing that people see him with his cropped hair and neck tattoo an’ assume he had a rough childhood, grew up on the wrong side of town. A product of a broken family and terrible circumstance. That he was a bad kid who had no choice but to grow up into a worst man. 

They are wrong (and let’s be real - prob’ly have other issues and privileges to recognize).

Rio’s family is as warm and loving as he is quiet and restrained. His father, a retired high school history teacher. His mother, a nurse (who oughta be retired, he keeps tellin’ her). They’ve had the same home in a California suburb since he was a baby. Rio and his sisters never doubted for a second that their parents were their biggest fans and biggest critics.

This was true even when Rio was nearly expelled from college. He was _smart_ , and had a talent for coding. Bein’ a computer science major had been boring and easy. So yeah, he filled his time with…side projects. Look, they shouldn’t have made it so easy to hack into student records and _damn_ , changing everyone’s semester GPA to 69.69 was _fuckin’ funny_ to a nineteen year old, ai’ight?

When his parents were informed of his academic probation, they were _furious_. Education was important to his family, and here he was, just blowin’ it away for shits and giggles. _We work_ hard _in this family. Show some respect for yourself._ That was his mother. _Why are you wasting your gifts on things that don’t matter?_ That was his father. _If you’re so bored, couldn’t you, like, get a campus job?_ His sister Alejandra never knew how to keep her opinion to herself.

Disappointing his parents was a hard lesson, so he did as was suggested. He got a job. Not a campus job, and maybe not the type of job they were thinkin’ of. But Rio heard about an “opportunity” from a friend of a friend, which led to another through a different acquaintance, which led to yet another, then another, and as they say, the rest is history.

And Rio was _fuckin’ good_ at all this. Assessing a situation, deciding on strategy, achieving the necessary outcome? That was what Rio excelled at.

So, Rio knew that he wasn’t gonna be spendin’ 40 hours a week behind a computer, but he finished his degree anyway (it would make his ma so happy) and took the graduation photos (even gave his extra cheesy smile, the one that shows all his teeth). After that, he moved to Detroit for “a job at a startup”, and promptly began laying the foundation for…the kingdom, as it were.

It didn’t take long for his parents to figure out there was no startup, at least, not the type you could Google and find a careers page for. And they figured out he wasn’t really a “junior software engineer”. One weekend visit home, they straight up asked him what he was doin’. Staged it like an intervention, too — they had his sisters come home and made ‘em all sit in a circle in the living room. He’s pretty sure it was yet again a case of Alejandra openin’ up her goddamn mouth. Bet she saw one done on some shitty tv show and suggested it to the family.

When he was unable to give any direct answers, it was enough for his parents to fill in the blanks, and know that it was far from good. His mother yelled, askin’ how stupid could he be and he was gonna get himself killed. His father’s reaction was worse, maybe. He wept quietly and wouldn’t speak to Rio for the rest of his visit.

It took a solid two months before their relationship was repaired. Now his parents know not to ask any questions and when they get off the phone, they always, _always_ end with his ma saying, “Love you” and his pop saying “Be safe.” And Rio always, _always_ replies with, “Love you. I will.”

When Beth shot him and he faded into unconsciousness, it was Marcus’s face that he saw, and it was his parents’ voices that he heard.

_Love you, be safe. Love you, be safe. Love you, be safe._

* * *

It pisses him off whenever Elizabeth reminds him that she’s a mother. Like that makes her situation unique, like it gives her unlimited free passes for any time she fucks up. Like it excuses her from any of the consequences of what she has done, directly or indirectly.

She ain’t special. Rio’s a parent, too. And a brother. And a son. There are people who would miss him if he died.

And he very nearly did.

Guess he’s not such a good teacher, though, if she could fire her gun three times into him and still not get the job done. Whatever. He’ll blame the student for that one.

Recovering in that hotel room felt like a different kind of death. He couldn’t make contact with Rhea, with Marcus, with his family. He didn’t feel too worried about Rhea, she knows enough about what he does to know that a few months of no contact didn’t have to mean anything. And they had an agreement that as long as Mick or one his boys didn’t reach out to her, that it just meant he had to lie low for a bit. As long as Rhea stayed calm, he knew she’d do her best to distract Marcus.

But he never made any sort of arrangement with his family, his parents. It was just better to not give ‘em too much information or ways to prepare for different scenarios. It would worry them too much, and that shit don’t do anyone good. Rio could only hope that Rhea’s optimism would be enough to keep their hopes up, just enough to last ‘em until he could call.

During his months of recovery and then rehab, Rio found himself frequently replaying his parents’ words to himself.

_Love you, be safe. Love you, be safe. Love you, be safe._

Anytime he felt tired and done with it all (because shit, he was shot. Three. Fucking. Times.), repeating those words to himself would bring back renewed focus and determination. It’s stupid, but it worked. 

And that whole time, he never thought about Elizabeth. Not intentionally, at least.

But he dreamed about her. Once, twice, three times a week.

The dream started the same each time. It was the day she invited him back to her house, under the pretense that she left his money there. They were in her bedroom and Elizabeth had taken off her boots, revealing her mismatched socks. It made him smile a little because it was cute, the way she was tryna play it cool and this side of hers wasn’t one he saw that often. Cautious and vulnerable and trusting.

In his dream, the scene unfolds the way it did in real life.

She walks towards him ( _she wants him_ ), he walks towards her ( _he wants her_ ).

He grazes his pinky to push her hair out of her face.

He can feel how badly she wants him to kiss her, to touch her, _and fuck, he wants that, too_. But _this_ is the moment where his dream diverges.

Suddenly he is holding his gun, pushing it against her jaw.

Elizabeth is wide eyed, but she gently scolds him, “Be safe.”

She calmly pushes away and pouts, drawing attention to her lips. Rio can’t stop thinking about where he’d like her mouth instead. 

And fuckin’ bitch, she takes the gun from him.

Still so calm, she now pushes his gun against his chest and smiles softly.

He has one of those moments, where you wanna run or scream, but your dream won’t let you. So he just stands there, knowing exactly what will happen, but being so helpless to prevent it.

Her voice is sweet as she says, “ _I_ will.”

And without hesitation, she pulls the trigger.

Even in his dream, he can’t kill her.

Fuckin’ shit.

* * *

It pisses him off when he realizes he’s gotta kill the designer they tricked into helping ‘em.

It’s not like he likes to kill people, especially not those who had no idea of what they walked into. But these steps are necessary, sometimes.

When Rio met Lucy in the card shop, he gave himself a beat to consider if maybe, just maybe she’d be worth keeping alive. Her work and attention to detail was impressive, and her quirky personality reminded him of his cousin Gigi. But within minutes, Rio knew she would be more trouble than her work was worth. She was the type who’d end up talkin’ and sayin’ too much, even without meaning to.

Elizabeth thinks she can be who he is, as if it were simple and anyone could fall right into it. So, he gives her a front-row seat to what she wants to become.

He gives Mick the nod and Mick immediately gets up, gun fires.

His ears are ringing and the air feels sick, but Rio refuses to react and never lets his eyes leave Elizabeth’s face.

There is nothing alluring or exciting about someone being dead, no matter what they have done that might have called for it. Someone goes from being a breathing, feeling participant in this fuckin’ world, to… _not_.

And Elizabeth wasn’t ready for any of that, and her devastation is obvious. She is ashen, her eyes lost and wild, and Rio wouldn’t be surprised if she threw up. Hell, Rio dry heaved the first time he shot someone, and that asshole didn’t even die.

He is instantly annoyed when the very slightest hint of concern tugs at him.

She wants to be a boss? Let her see all sides of it. It ain’t pretty and it ain’t always something you are proud to point at and call your own. But he’s _teachin_ ’ her. She don’t get to pick and choose what she is a part of, this ain’t a fuckin’ buffet. You either accept your part in it all, or shut up and fall in line. 

Suddenly, his father’s words from years and years ago return to him.

_Why are you wasting your gifts on things that don’t matter?_

Rio wonders if keeping Elizabeth alive and tryin’ to teach her is just a repeated bad decision he makes, a decision that will lead to his ultimate end.

Goddamnit. He wouldn’t put it past her to put five bullets in him next time, just to be sure.

* * *

So when he sees her, dancing and sipping champagne in her kitchen, Rio is well past being pissed off.

He’s no idiot. He knows she’s been plotting and scheming a way to kill him. Again. What, she think she’s the _first_ person to try to kill him, fail, and keep tryin’?

It pisses him off that Elizabeth, for as sharp and enterprising as she is, is being so fucking _dense_. It’s like she’s purposefully ignoring the obvious. The sooner she realizes it won’t do her any good to try to beat him, the sooner they can move on and _get shit_ _done_. The jobs they do could be bigger. Better. She could have her big ol’ house paid off, college money tucked away for the lot of her kids. Money for that girl gang of hers, and their families.

And it _really_ pisses him off that he can’t shake her out of his thoughts. Since his return, it’s been goddamn embarrassing how often he finds himself thinking about getting her naked.

He has to remind himself that Elizabeth might be fuckin’ interestin’, but she’s a risk. She’s a risk. She’s a _risk_.It don’t matter how much he likes the way her breath sharply catches when he ghosts his fingers over her panties. He swears she stops breathing altogether while he slowly teases her, brushing circles in repeated motion (and fuck, she gets wet _fast_ ), tracing the edges of where cotton meets her skin. He does this until he’s sure she’s waitedlong enough, and shit, it’s _satisfying_ to hear her loud gasp when he finally slides a first finger inside her.

Even now, as she’s happily oblivious and celebrating his death, Rio still can’t help but think about that afternoon. Unlike his dream (nightmare) where it ends with her killing him, when he’s awake, the details play out, unchanged.

Hesitant kisses quickly turned desperate and rough, and Rio could taste the bourbon on her lips. It didn’t take long before clothes were completely discarded and they fell into her bed. She blushed when Rio took a moment to let his eyes drag over the length of her body. His fingers followed the invisible path that his eyes made, traveling along every curve, resting here and there and _damn_.

Her growing embarrassment was obvious, however, and at some point she threw an arm over her face, covering her eyes.

“Feelin’ shy, ma?” he asked, in a voice softer than he’d expected. He pulled her arm away from her face and pressed a kiss against the inside of her wrist.

She nodded, sheepish, and turned her head away, her blush growing even deeper. Rio moved his hand and traced the side of her face, gently nudging her back to face him. A kiss to her forehead, a kiss to her cheek, a kiss on her nose. The small gestures felt strangely familiar, and Rio felt her relax with each touch. 

In that moment, she was his, just his.

Rio gives his head a quick shake. His family is right: _work hard and respect yourself_. And Rio has worked too hard and sacrificed too much to let Elizabeth and her bored suburban lady antics keep distractin’ him. He’s already given her too many chances, fixed too many of her mistakes, and it is getting harder and harder to come up with reasons to keep her around.

Rio knows he’s gonna have to set an end point, eventually.If he thinks it’s embarrassing how often he thinks about her naked and pressed against him, it’s just as embarrassing to know his boys are wondering why he bothers keeping her alive at all. Yeah, Elizabeth has somewhat compelling reasons to keep her around, but at the end of it all - he doesn’t need her. The systems and world that Rio had meticulously crafted were operational and effective, long before Elizabeth and will continue to be long after her.

She is a variable that he shoulda removed a long time ago, that he never shoulda let in at all.

It’s not smart and it’s not safe, keepin’ her around. It’s earned him three bullet wounds and who knows how many more attempts.

But some things never change, and the same Rio that pulled dumb computer pranks as a nineteen year old is the same Rio that cleared out the Boland household (if a lesson can be both harsh and funny, _shit, then why not? )_ is the same Rio that lingers in the doorway of the Boland kitchen, fighting a grin as Elizabeth bops around unaware of what’s to come.

He breaks the silence, “What are we celebratin’?”

Hours later, when he’s back in his apartment, Rio allows himself a laugh when replaying the look of poorly veiled horror and shock on her face.

Yeah, it ain’t safe keepin’ her around.

But shit, Rio loves a good laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> TBH, 1. I just really like the idea that Rio finds a lot of this funny, and 2. looking for ways to understand Rio and the whole Lucy death.


End file.
